Pompano firefighter charged with shooting at man who wouldn't have sex with her

May 23, 2014|Scott T. Smith, CBS12

A Pompano Beach firefighter was arrested on charges of shooting and wounding a man when refused a sexual dalliance with him, deputies say.

Deputies were summoned to the 1800 block of Violet Avenue in unincorporated West Palm Beach for a report of a shooting early Saturday morning. Before their arrival, an off-deputy said he found Janeen Michele McKenzie, 46, firing a semi-automatic pistol at a man later identified as Anthony Santos, 35.

Santos was kneeling with his hands up. The off-duty deputy, who knows McKenzie, ordered her to drop the firearm several times before she complied, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office arrest report.

Santos left the scene before deputies arrived, but was found a block away. He was taken to Wellington Regional Medical Center, where a bullet fragment was removed from his head, according to the report.

Santos told investigators that he and McKenzie had been drinking in Lake Worth when she asked him to give her a ride home because she'd had too much to drink. When they got to her house, Santos said they kissed and that she insisted he drink a glass of wine.

She pulled his hands onto her chest and then around her neck, "suggesting that she achieved pleasure from being choked during romantic encounters," according to the report.

Santos told investigators he decided to leave because "things were getting weird," and when he told her to go to sleep because she'd had too much to drink, he said McKenzie's demeanor changed. She told him to open a kitchen drawer, where inside he saw the handgun.

Santos told police he turned to leave and found McKenzie pointing the gun at him. He made it just out the door when he said the gun fired so close to his head that he felt like it burned his face. The shot incapacitated him briefly and left his ears ringing, he said.

He said he left the house and McKenzie pursued him, firing several times as he walked away. He told her "OK, OK," and knelt down while holding his hands up. She fired again at the asphalt, and fragments struck his chin, causing him to fall and roll over. That's when the off-duty deputy, appeared and ordered McKenzie to drop the gun.

McKenzie told deputies that she couldn't recall most of the incident, except Santos "choking" her and retrieving her firearm from her nightstand, according to the report. Deputies noted she had no marks on her neck and had "an odor of alcohol emanating from her breath and person."

McKenzie was arrested Wednesday on a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm.